The Good:
- The heights of Tarantino's sleight of hand is as evident as ever here with regards to many of his stylistic choices. The choice of soundtrack this time round is not only as catchy as always but if anything, embodies the time period better than any of his previous works. The cinematography is excellent throughout, and the costumes, set design, are all pitch-perfect both in terms of accuracy towards the period will granting their own very QT-esque style. I will also say that aside from one reservation I'll get to later on that he definitely delivered on them with a lot more nuance than one might expect.
- Acting is, as per usual, strong on the whole and I love that QT found so many talented actors to play relative bit-parts that add so much to the overall picture. Highlights from the supporting cast would be Mike Moh's pitch-perfect Bruce Lee, Margaret Qualley's somewhat loveable, somewhat insane hippie Pussycat, and Julia Butters as precocious yet very endearing child actor Trudi Fraser.
- DiCaprio and Pitt are a fantastic combo. DiCaprio once again proving that perhaps comedy is where his true calling is with a hilarious portrayal of a down-on-his-luck wannabe superstar whose pursuit of acting perfection is both pathetically funny but also somewhat moving. And Pitt giving his best performance in quite sometime as the mysterious, soft-spoken and for lack of a better word, badass Cliff who is easily the highlight of the bonkers third act. And their chemistry together is fantastic.
- Some of QT's best individual scenes ever - I'll keep mum for fear of spoilers, but his handling of the action sequences and the 'fake film' interludes are some of his finest work to date. It's also arguably his most wholesome film to date which makes for a nice change of pace.
- Handles what could've been some major 'ehhhh' factors very sensitively and with maturity that you might not expect of QT. The Manson Family are genuinely quite creepy but the way they are depicted is in a way that does not exploit the original tragedies.
The Bad:
- Margot Robbie is lovely as Sharon Tate but I wish she'd had a bit more to do acting-wise. As it is her subplot is more of just a set-up for the third act.
- Absence of truly memorable dialogue I'd say, which is odd for a QT film as for all the reservations one might have with Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, there were certainly loads of memorable lines from those. It's still a great screenplay but perhaps less memorable.
- The film is deliberately aimless in its overarching tone which is fine, but there are several sequences I do feel could've been cut out, if not altogether excluded. The pacing is a bit off here and you do feel the extra length of the film which is not a problem I had with say, The Hateful Eight which I felt kept its breakneck momentum sustained throughout the whole nearly three hour runtime.
- QT really needs to stop using the narration motif in his films. It worked for Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds and somewhat for The Hateful Eight but here despite getting Kurt Russell to do it, it feels forced.
The Ugly:
- This film will ultimately be quite divisive, as with any QT film, when looked at against certain topics and critiques, particularly with regards to gender roles, its treatment of Bruce Lee, its treatment of real-life events, liberties taken with real people...personally, I'm giving it all a bit of room to breathe before giving more thought. I will say that I definitely have issues on these fronts, as with any of Tarantino's filmography, but not necessarily on the negative side, but I do think a debate in this regard is necessary.
Conclusion:
Having thoroughly loved his last three films, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is probably my least favourite of his most recent work in the past decade or so. However, it's still a strong, occasionally amazing, film from one of the industry's most unique voices, and I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
Yep, these are more or less my own thoughts on the film. I liked it throughout, primarily because of its two great performances from DiCaprio and Pitt. Nevertheless, the story isn't quite as cohesive or memorable as Tarantino's other scripts, and its treatment of Sharon Tate in particular is bound to generate some backlash of some kind.
ReplyDeleteBacklash will come for sure, which might hurt its Oscar chances.
DeleteGiven that he decided not to do any with Tate (being reverent to a fault), she could've served the exact same purpose, if you cut out all of her scenes except the ones where Pitt/DiCaprio are in her exact vicinity, like driving by with Polanski, listening to music while Cliff works on the antenna, and the final message. Given you still saw Manson and the followers in the ranch scene (which by the way, were both brilliantly directed moments by Tarantino, and would love to see a full horror from him based on those), you'd still have the danger/tension setup (something I honestly don't care for since basically Tarantino was making tension out of whether or not he'd do something in horrible taste). It all would've just been a far tauter film, either that, or actually develop Tate as a character.
ReplyDeleteI will say as much as I did enjoy the film, I think Tarantino had the chance for a greater more resonate film, if he had taken an alternative, and harder route. This in actually having the murders take place (but not show them), and have it as a catalyst instead for Rick to really look at himself and his "sweating the small stuff" approach to life. To perhaps make something a bit more poignant, rather than the entertaining fable he made instead. Again, sitting with it I've come to enjoy it for it as that entertainment, but he left a lot of things, and potential on the table for a simpler avenue.
Completely agree on leaving the potential on the table, which is a shame but the film is entertaining enough and with enough high points to allow me to somewhat overlook it.
DeleteWhat rating would you give the film? A 4.5 sounds right to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think the film will still nab some Oscar nominations, though probably not too many.
A strong 4 at this point.
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